


The Hunt

by Loopy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bloodbending (Avatar), F/F, Lesbian Ty Lee (Avatar), Ty Lee (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29101524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loopy/pseuds/Loopy
Summary: Ty Lee joins Katara on an important quest. What turns out to be truly important, perhaps, is the lesson in strength and confidence, and maybe a little something more.
Relationships: Katara/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9
Collections: Avatar Rarepair Exchange 2021





	1. Recruitment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thingsareswinging](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thingsareswinging/gifts).



**The Hunt - Recruitment**

Ty Lee approached the Kyoshi Warriors' dojo alone, wearing her uniform and makeup more primly than she ever had the fashions of Fire Nation nobility.

The sun was mostly set, leaving the inside of the dojo hidden in shadow despite the open doors. There was a bite in the air, despite the season, so unlike the Fire Nation where the sun's heat lingered long after it sank below the horizon.

Ty Lee's first urge, upon entering the dojo, was to sink to her knees and bow. Despite her years here, it was always that way. But she was practiced at resisting, so she kept walking straight the center of the space where she took a standing position of reverence and gave a quick bow at the waist. "You wanted to see me?"

In front of her, Suki bowed back. "Please, be comfortable. I'm sorry, but I need your help with a kind of test- or, _we_ need your help." She motioned to her left. "You know Katara, of course."

That was true Ty Lee knew Katara. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the dojo, she picked out the figure standing just behind Suki- blue robes, a loose but powerful way of standing, hair-loops swaying in front of warm blue eyes with every little motion. And, nearly overwhelming all the rest, an aura bright and red, as beautiful as Katara herself, a blaze of passion and strength and life. Ty Lee knew this to be appropriate, because she had come to know that Katara had ambitions the size of the world, a vision to spread fairness and healing and punishment everywhere it was needed. It elevated Katara to stand and work beside world-class heroes, sometimes even including Ty Lee herself when she was being a hero.

It was also untrue that Ty Lee knew Katara. They'd fought each other in the war, but it was only three times, and Ty Lee had only hit Katara _twice_ in all of that. She'd actually fought Katara's brother, Sokka, more often. And after the war they were allies, yes, working together to heal and protect it. They were friends with all the same people, but none of that actually made them friends to each other. It was an indirect kind of interaction, mostly as part of groups. First, it had been the Avatar and all his companions. Then, after Katara and Aang started spending less time together, it had been as part of big Kyoshi Warrior activities.

Nevertheless, Ty Lee let herself fill with delight and burst forward to greet Katara with a hug, the best kind of greeting there was. "Oh _hi!_ So good to see you! It's been too long! You're looking great! Your aura has generous swirls of pink that make your being sparkle. What are we testing?"

"Uh, well, Suki will explain," Katara squeaked, her body tensing up. She responded to the hug like Mai, giving a slack shoulder-squeeze in return and then let go. 

Ty Lee let go as well and turned back to Suki. "So, what are we testing?"

"You, actually." Suki squared her shoulders and all cheer left her painted face. "This is a challenge. You are about to be attacked." She took her war-fans from her belt and snapped them open at her sides. "It will be a single attack. If that attack lands, you fail. And you cannot respond _before_ the attack is made. If you do, you fail." She glanced at Katara and then focused her gaze again straight on Ty Lee's eyes. "There is a bystander present. This bystander can come to no harm, cannot even be _jostled_ by what's going on. This is part of the test. If-"

"If she does, I'm guessing I fail," Ty Lee finished, throwing a wink. This was starting to sound fun. Challenges of speed and precision were part of even her earliest combat training, and unlike in the Fire Nation, failure probably wouldn't lead to Suki chopping off her hair and sending her to the siege of Ba Sing Se to die. No one was even besieging Ba Sing Se these days. "Are we just doing this for giggles? Ooh, or is there a prize?"

Suki's lips quirked. "There's no prize, but there might be an opportunity. And _I_ intend to have fun. Feel free to enjoy yourself, too." She took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. "Are you ready?"

Ty Lee took a moment to put her arms through a few stretches. Then she shook herself loose and nodded. "R-"

Katara struck.

Ty Lee only realized what happened after the fact.

Her reflexes -- not her natural reflexes, but the ones cultivated over hours, days, _years_ of training -- took over. Katara moved her hands to the uncorked waterskin that hung at her waist. That drew Ty Lee's animal-attention away from Suki, and her closest arm automatically moved in a rising slap that knocked Katara's hands out of their arc. Then her body shifted so that her other arm could form a punch that landed in Katara's side even as a spray of water -- pulled free but not shaped properly thanks to the aborted Waterbending attack -- flew into the air.

The punch had both the strength of the muscles in Ty Lee's arm as well as the force of nearly her full body-weight. A blow of such power would have knocked many people off their feet and made even highly trained warriors at least stumble back a few steps. But this punch was focused entirely into a single raised knuckle of Ty Lee's fist and landed in a very specific place. There, several of the chi-meridians that flowed through Katara's body converged. And not just any meridians. Ty Lee knew every single energy path through the human body and their exact nature.

The result was that Katara would become dizzy the very instant she was struck, the muscles of her leg would tighten and lock, and her vision would swim for a moment.

The _next_ punch, then, had everything set up for it. It landed like a hammer on the side of Katara's head, near where her jaw was anchored to her skull. Even if it hadn't struck another crossroads of chi, it would have easily been able to knock Katara straight to the ground. But this punch was just as precise as the one before it, and so when Katara crashed to the floor of the dojo, she was close to unconsciousness and completely unable to defend herself or continue the fight.

The spray of water flew through the air between Ty Lee and Suki and scattered across the last ray of sunlight peeking through the door before disappearing.

And _then_ Ty Lee's thoughts were able to catch up with her body. "-eady oh is Katara the attacker?"

Suki blinked. Then she grinned. "You passed the test. Congratulations." She crouched down beside Katara. "You okay? Need help getting up?"

Katara groaned.

Ty Lee knew her abilities well, and she realized -- as the full sequence of the fight unspooled in her mind -- that Katara likely _did_ need help. That dimmed her aura a bit; she shouldn't have gone so hard against a friend. Or a friendly acquaintance whose brother Ty Lee used to flirt with to keep up certain appearances. But, well, Katara had ambushed her. And disrupted chi could be fixed, or at least the effects could be relieved a little. Calling an acupuncturist would have been the most effective, but for now Ty Lee lifted Katara and jabbed a finger into a specific place on her back.

Katara gasped and her eyes flew open. She blinked repeatedly and looked around. Then she realized she was in Ty Lee's arms, and she lifted herself into a crouch. "I lost, didn't I? That was _fast._ But- well, that's what we wanted to see. I guess- I guess you maybe _can_ help me."

Ty Lee frowned. "Help you? With what?"

A muddiness descended to sully Katara's red glow. "I'm hunting something called a Bloodbender."

* * *

Ty Lee waited very patiently, she thought, for the rest of the explanation.

She and Suki had brought Katara to her home, the little one-room cottage offered for her use as a resident Kyoshi Warrior. It was here (amidst some of the furniture she'd carted around even as an acrobat in the circus, some tapestries she'd taken from her family home, and a few mementos of her travels) that she kept the herbal concoctions she made up to treat the after-effects of chi-blocking.

Her original teacher had always insisted that anyone who knew how to inflict harm through their fighting style should also be able to treat it. It was too easy to do major damage by striking at the human body the way they did. Now that she was teaching a basic form of the techniques to the Kyoshi Warriors, she was glad she to have learned such things; injuries were common during her lessons in the Kyoshi dojo, but not just bruises or sprains. The right kind of strike could do all kinds of strange things, stuff associated more with sicknesses than a punch.

So she had Katara swallow the appropriate medicine and rest on the futon for a bit. She chatted with Suki and never asked about anything that even sounded like a 'bloodbender' (although 'mud-lenders' was a brief topic of discussion). And she did not bounce on her feet at all when Katara eventually sat up on the futon and hugged her legs against her chest.

"Bloodbending a form of Waterbending," Katara finally said. "Blood is as much water as sweat or perfume or- well, any liquid."

The possibilities that sped through Ty Lee's mind were both fascinating and repulsive. "So you're going after a Waterbender who takes people's blood?"

Suki remained silent, leaning against the wall by the door. She could have been on guard duty for all that she moved.

Katara kept her eyes on her knees. "They don't take the blood. They just use it. I can control your blood while it's still inside you." Her aura was becoming more tainted with every word.

" _You_ can?"

Katara swallowed, nodded, and looked up to meet Ty Lee's gaze. "Yes. I'm a Bloodbender. It can only happen during a full moon, and I don't practice the forms, but- yes, I was taught how, and I've used it." She took a deep breath, and her aura took on just a little of its previous shine. "I've decided that I'm never going to use it again. I want- I _wanted_ it to die with me."

Ty Lee could see where this was going. "But now there's another. Your master?"

"No. She's- we don't need to worry about that, now. It's another student like me." Katara unfolded her legs and looked to the open window. Darkness had fallen, leaving the stars and the (gibbous) moon to glow their way through the night. "So I'm going after him, and Suki suggested that you'd be a good ally to have along."

Ty Lee had to giggle at that. "Come on, that's silly. Just take the Avatar. Or Sokka or Toph. And the Kyoshi Warriors don't have any deployments right now, so we can probably spare-"

" _No!that_ kind of lust- well, usually), of ambition and desire and need. The only person who had an aura that could compare to Katara's was Fire Lord Ozai (which Ty Lee would _never_ tell anyone because she liked her new friends), but his never had a speck of pink in it. Katara's ambitions were, to use a completely inappropriate word, _sweet._ And that was something worth protecting.

Worth getting to know.

Ty Lee reached out to take Katara's hands in her own. "You won't be alone. I'll be there with you."

* * *

They left Kyoshi Island the next day.

Ty Lee turned over her fans and uniform to Suki for safe-keeping, said goodbye to all her friends on the island, had one last lunch of clams in huan sauce in town, and met Katara at the docks. As usual, there were quite a few Water Tribe ships there, what with all the trade going on now, but most were the deep-hulled ships built for cargo. One there stood out from the rest, sleek and shallow, something obviously built for speed and toughness. It was crewed by older men in blue who all greeted Ty Lee with a friendliness that was never leering. As Ty Lee stepped up onto the deck, though, she saw that their most brilliant smiles, though, were reserved for the young woman at the bow of the ship.

Katara waved a greeting to Ty Lee, and began moving the ship out of the bay at high tide with her Waterbending.

Ty Lee was just a passenger, so she found herself a spot out of the way and watched Katara's flowing movements. She had never seen Waterbending used for a real practical purpose outside of combat. That was the Fire Nation's fault, she knew, and part of the reason she had joined the Kyoshi Warriors.

The ship raced against the wind, making its own destiny. And the one who was granting that destiny was Katara, her aura a bright piece of the blue sky come down in the shape of a person.

Ty Lee took notice of a quiet around her. The crew -- those who didn't have an immediate duty -- were also watching Katara. Their auras had a pale reflection of the blue of hers, a peacefulness like they were having a spiritual experience.

One of them approached Ty Lee without taking his eyes off Katara and said, "It's still amazing to have Waterbending returned to our tribe, even just for sailing the way my ancestors did. Our Waterbenders were all taken from us before I was born, and now my own daughter is the one responsible for returning our legacy to us." He turned to Ty Lee with a smile and held out his hand. "I'm Hakoda. I've heard a lot about you from Katara and Sokka."

Ty Lee had seen Sokka do this before. Instead of bowing, she held out her hand and clasped Hakoda's wrist. "It's an honor to meet you. And- and I'm sorry for what the Fire Nation did. And for what I did."

"Thank you." Hakoda clasped her own wrist, gave her arm a shake, and let go. "I understand you'll be assisting my daughter on her hunt." He grinned. "If you're as terrifying on the battlefield as she makes you sound, I think you'll both be all right."

"Oh, I'll do my best!" Ty Lee giggled and waved the compliment away to cover how wrong it felt to be considered terrifying. She didn't want people to be scared of her; she wanted them to think she was nice and pretty and interesting and unique. _Azula_ was terrifying, and while there were some things Ty Lee admired about the princess, the scariness was not one of them.

It should be possible to have no fear of the world without having to inflict fear on it in turn.

The ship passed out of the bay and into open waters, and Katara turned and hollered some signal. The crew responded instantly, Hakoda barking orders and the rest worked to bring the ship's big sail into position and unfurl it. The wind caught the blue material (a kind of coated paper, perhaps, or maybe animal skins?) and began propelling the ship. Hakoda moved to the tiller, directing the men there on their path.

Katara came over from the ship's bow and leaned against the ship's side right next to Ty Lee. "Well, we're on our way. It will take us some time to get to the Northern Seas, and we'll have to make supply stops along the way. It's never an easy trip to visit our sister tribe."

"Wouldn't a sky bison be faster?" Ty Lee had meant it innocently (and also a little bit because she _loved_ riding Appa), but she saw immediately how it dimmed Katara's aura. Did she miss Aang, now that their paths had moved them apart? Or was there a reason they had chosen separate paths in the first place?

Katara turned to look out at the ocean stretching out ahead of them. "If I told any of them what I was doing, I wouldn't be able to keep them away. They- they _saw_ me deal with Bloodbending before. They know- they how I feel about it. But I can't risk them. I only told Suki because I knew she wouldn't really understand, and that was just to get some combat advice. I didn't expect her to suggest taking you."

"Yeah, no one ever suspects me," Ty Lee said. "I like to think it's part of my charm."

Katara laughed, and Ty Lee's aura lit up pink. Katara turned and shook her head so that her dangling hair loops were blown by the wind to the sides of her face, revealing her eyes in their full glory. "You know, I used to be _terrified_ of you. Back when- you know, during the war."

Ty Lee's aura dimmed a little. "Oh? Oh. I'm sorry. About that. And, you know, everything."

Katara nodded. "Thank you. But- well, it wasn't really you I was scared of. It was what you could do. Taking bending away- well, I've always thought of myself as a Waterbender. It was- it's what I thought made me- well, me. I always knew I was the one who would keep that part of our culture alive. And if there was a way you could do it permanently-"

"I can't." Ty Lee leaned forward so that Katara could see the truth in her eyes. "I can't do it permanently. There's no hit --- or sequence of hits -- that can impair bending forever. Not like what Aang can do."

"I know. And I also know that I'm more than just a Waterbender. I've taken on some students, and sharing it hasn't made me anything less. Actually, it's made me something more. The more I share about what I've learned -- the more I make it less about me, heh -- the better I feel. Waterbending is something that belongs to my whole Tribe." She smirked and gave a small, single-shouldered shrug. "Not that I wouldn't freak out if I lost my Waterbending. And-"

Her smile faded.

Her aura became muddy at the edges.

Ty Lee tried to make her own aura as spiritual and assuring as possible. "And what?"

Katara turned and looked to the bow of the boat- no, it was to the northern horizon ahead of them. "And there are some things I know about Watebending that I will absolutely make sure have left the world before I do."

Ty Lee stretched her arms above her head. "Well, I happen to have scared someone who's starting to seem like the confident girl I know. Seems like I should be good at taking away the bad kind of Waterbending, too."

Katara's aura grew bright again, and maybe it was Ty Lee's imagination, but it seemed like their shades complimented each other's nicely.

* * *

They sailed to the north as quickly as they could, and the mood on the ship grew quieter as the air grew colder.

Their destination proved to be a large, rocky island at the edge of the Northern Seas, a strange place covered in a thick sheet of ice and snow, but with a bright sky above and bristly green trees spread out over the rising landscape. They grew thick at the central peak, forming a true forest to swallow the land. It reminded Ty Lee of a volcano, but instead of bright red lava flowing over blackened grounds, a green shadow was erupting from the center of this island to cover the shining white.

They were greeted before they even landed on the island. An armada of Water Tribe ships was circled around it, and one peeled away from the ring to come up alongside theirs.

The Water Tribe men on that ship all wore symbols of the moon on their clothes, and the captain couldn't meet Katara's eyes even though he bowed and spoke to her with respect. "We have watched, Southern Cousin, and no one has left the island. The one you seek is waiting for you."

Katara nodded, her aura shooting through with gray and her eyes going cold. "Thank you, Northern Cousin. I'll need a raft or a canoe. My friend and I will go alone. But we're not going today."

The 'Northern Cousin' lifted his eyes to meet Katara's gaze for a moment, and then hastily averted them again. "Your pardon, but why wait? Every day-"

Katara waved a hand. "He won't leave now. In two days it will be a full moon."

The Northern Cousin's eyes went wide, and he nodded.

Ty Lee tapped Katara on the shoulder. "Um, Waterbenders are stronger under a full moon, right?"

"Yes."

"And-"

Katara nodded. "It can only happen during a full moon. If we want to trap prey, we need him to think he can fight. Otherwise, he'll run. Sokka taught me that." And glanced at the armada of Water Tribe ships ringing the island. "And if he really wanted to, we couldn't stop him." She turned back to Ty Lee, blue eyes piercing through her red, lustful aura. "Will you still come with me?"

Ty Lee shivered at the strength and confidence of this strategy. Nevertheless, she removed the warm coat she'd been given by Hakoda and stretched her limbs out in the cold air. "Do you really think we can do it?"

Katara's grinned showed teeth. "I do."

"Then I'm with you." And Ty Lee let go of her fear.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	2. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee and Katara face the Bloodbender, but the battle isn't what they expected it to be- in nature or significance.

**The Hunt - Confrontation**

Their search took them to the forest, of course.

The thick, bristly trees were similar to a type that grew on Kyoshi Island and kept their needle-like leaves even in the winter, but here there were so much more of them. They blocked out the view of the stars and the shining full moon. The light must have been there somewhere, though, because the snow and the ice reflected enough to keep away full darkness.

It was a strange reversal of what Ty Lee normally knew, with the brightness in the sky and the darkness lurking on the ground.

She and Katara were shadows winding their way through the forest and up the slow rising of the island's central peak.

"So how," she whispered, because something about the snow and the forest demanded whispers, "do we find the Bloodbender?"

Katara shook her head. "We don't have to. He'll find us. We're just making ourselves bait."

Ty Lee didn't know what to say to that. The Kyoshi Warriors preferred to be unseen until the moment of the first strike. Even when forced to stand out in the open, like when they were guarding Zuko (er, _Fire Lord_ Zuko), then they made a highly visible and intimidating defensive display to scare off anyone who was thinking of attacking.

And Azula-

Well, Azula had always been a clever hunter. She fooled people, and sometimes pretended to be weaker than she really was, but she never invited an opponent to strike first; a show of weakness was just to make enemies feel secure enough that they wouldn't attack until she was ready. And she always struck when and where her opponents were weakest.

Katara trudged on through the snow in her heavy coat. Ty Lee had gone with just a few extra layers of clothing, to allow herself more flexibility; she started to regret it as she puffed more of her breath into mist in front of her.

It grew colder.

The forest grew thicker.

The night grew darker.

"So you have finally come," came a voice like the creaking of tree branches. "The first student."

A figure stepped out of the shadows and took a Waterbending stance that Ty Lee had never seen before.

* * *

The Bloodbender's aura was a kind that Ty Lee knew all too well. The browns and greens were barely distinguishable from each other, a scene like the ground in an Earth Kingdom forest the day after a raging thunderstorm. Sticks, leaves, battered flowers -- even the bodies of the smaller animals and insects that hadn't been able to survive the deluge -- were all lost in the endless swirl of mud that had once been the rich soil.

It was an aura common in the Fire Nation, strangely. Greed, selfishness, jealousy, insecurity, a constant need to blame others- even the greatest warriors there seemed to be driven by such things. It was one of the reasons Ty Lee had tried to leave so many times. Red auras were not as common as most people expected, and they were so often tainted with the darkness that revealed a lack of balance.

It was the last -- and the first -- Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe who had come forward to show the world a proper red, beautiful aura.

* * *

Ty Lee raised her fists and crouched in preparation for one of her famous flying leaps.

Katara's own hands became fists, but she stood and faced the Bloodbender with nothing but a clenched jaw. "Call me what you want, but Bloodbending ends tonight. You can come willingly or as my prisoner, but either way you're leaving the north and going where you'll never be able to hurt anyone again."

Ty Lee leaned towards Katara and whispered, "That was very confrontational."

"Yes." Katara's eyes flicked over to her. "I believe in us."

Ty Lee appreciated the reminder, but it was the kind of thing you said before a situation was about to become terrible, which did not make her aura pink. She turned her attention back to the Bloodbender and readied herself.

His expression was hidden by shadow, but the greens of his aura became more brown and the browns became more green.

He moved-

-and Ty Lee leaped-

-and she froze in the air, the insides of her limbs becoming as stiff as frozen tree branches and expanding to fill spaces where there should have been none. Her whole body hurt, but it was the complete inability to move that was the worst part. Ty Lee had been tied up before, had her limbs disabled by chi-blocking, and even been pinned down by bodies she had no hope of pushing away. Yet, in all those cases, her body had still been her own, just overwhelmed or too hurt to do what she wanted.

But this was like her insides had been stolen, ripped free and replaced with dead things.

Her aura turned the harsh gleaming yellow of terror and she called out, "Katara-"

Katara's aura was still blazing red, and she moved with the weight and power of the ocean-

-to attack the Bloodbender.

The snow and ice rose from the ground in a sharp wave that lashed at the enemy. He snapped his arms and Ty Lee went flying head-first through the air towards a tree. That put her in a situation that required paying attention, but it was a big improvement over what she had just experienced; she was _used_ to hurtling through the air in dangerous ways. So she took a moment as she sailed through the air to glance back at Katara and see her pressing the attack on the Bloodbender.

He moved his arms defensively and seized control of the snow and ice, swirling it around his body to slice at the trees around him. The trees began to fall, their wooden groan echoing through the forest, their shadows marking Katara's position as their final resting place.

But Ty Lee could feel her body again, and it was happy to obey her.

Before she crashed into her own tree, she kicked her legs with enough force to spin herself in the air, flipping around completely. Instead of striking the tree with her head, her feet and legs absorbed the impact like she was landing from a particularly high jump, and she eased the force of the impact by throwing herself 'forward' to spin around the tree's trunk like it was a particularly thick beam.

Then she sprang into a jump that took her up to where the tree branches batted ineffectively at her flight. She flipped when she reached the apex to give herself a burst of acceleration. Her body sped up even further as she began to arc downward, snapping through branches as went.

She landed in a skid in the snow, let her unconscious senses wash over the battlefield, and somersaulted in a direction that turned out to take her to the Bloodbender's side.

He had just enough time to start to glance at her when the first blow struck him in the back of his left knee. His leg collapsed before he could even cry out in pain, but his body hadn't even struck the ground before the next three punches systematically broke down the functioning of his right arm. His knee finally struck the snow before Ty Lee spun to drive another two hits into his back. The last hit, to the rear of his left thigh, might have gone unnoticed amidst the pain and disruption of the other blows, but he definitely noticed when that leg collapsed too and he sprawled face-down in the snow.

She made sure to disable his left arm and right leg with two precise punches to each, just to be sure.

Then Ty Lee let out a heavy breath, allowing the tension to release from her body.

Katara skidded up beside her on a surfboard made of ice, her gaze shifting between the Bloodbender and Ty Lee. "Is it done?"

Ty Lee shrugged. "What happens next is up to you. But- yeah, I got him."

"And you're okay?" Katara stepped off the board and lowered her head. "I wanted to help you, but- I mean- I-"

"You believed in me." Ty Lee took Katara's gloved hands. "That's why you brought me. Because you could trust me to handle it. And your attack got him to stop doing that- that thing." She let go of Katara to hug herself. She'd forgotten how cold it was during the scuffle, but now she was remembering in a hurry. "It felt _awful._ But I- I think I'm okay now. And your attack got him to stop focusing on me. So thanks."

"Of course." Katara unfastened her coat and held it out. "Here, you look cold. I trust you to handle trouble, but I'm not going to let you freeze."

Ty Lee giggled her thanks and took the coat.

* * *

They emerged from the forest to find the moon and the stars waiting to shine down on them.

One of the Northern Water Tribe ships moved out of formation from the fleet that was circling the island to come and meet them. The Bloodbender hadn't recovered from Ty Lee's blows, but she kept an eye on him as they handed him over to the ship's captain.

"Thank you, Southern Cousin," the captain said as three of his warriors took the Bloodbender from the ice-sled Katara had formed to drag him through the forest. "This Bloodbending art has broken the laws of our Masters, so he will be imprisoned until he repents- and we are sure of his sincerity."

Katara's aura was overtaken by a wave of blue, but there was no sign of it as she kept her gaze on the captain- who still wouldn't meet her eyes. "And you'll be able to keep him secure? He's a skilled Waterbender."

"We know," the captain rumbled, "how to secure rogue Waterbenders. I am sure _you_ know, Southern Cousin, how painful but necessary it can be when a member of the Tribe becomes a danger."

Katara turned away, briefly. The red in her aura flared, but it was an impure, shadowy shade, showing pain of some kind- but why, and what kind of pain?

Wait-

The first Bloodbender, the master who Katara had mentioned-

Was the master from _Katara's_ tribe?

Katara turned back and made the captain flinch when she locked her eyes back on him. "And on the nights of the full moon, you have to be extra careful. Bind his hands, and maybe keep everyone away from him."

The Bloodbender, in the process of being tied up nearby on the deck, made a noise of outrage. "You think I'd use the art on my own tribesman?"

Ty Lee turned to him. "So it was okay on me because I'm a woman or because I'm Fire Nation?"

Katara pressed her hands to her head. "Look, never mind. I trust the Northern Water Tribe to keep him confined. But- no, nevermind. This will be the end of Bloodbending. Finally."

"It will never end," the Bloodbender howled as he was dragged away. "We will use it to destroy our enemies. We will use it to unlock most powerful healing techniques. It is an art that will elevate the Tribes and make us the rightful masters of the world!"

Katara whirled to him and put her hands on her hips. "Shut up! It's _terrible_ , and it will die with us! No one you'll ever see will want to learn it. No one else knows it who can teach it. This is its end."

But the Bloodbender grinned as he was carried below deck.

And, in Ty Lee's eyes, his aura was a confident red-orange, not the color of a defeated man. "He _has_ taught to someone else," she gasped. She turned and grabbed Katara's shoulders. "I saw it in his aura! He thinks he's won! He must have taught it someone else!"

Katara's eyes went wide. "But-" She snapped her mouth shut and stepped back from Ty Lee's grasp. "You're sure?"

Ty Lee nodded.

Katara looked to the captain. "Northern Cousin, please, who else could he have taught?"

"No one!" He put his fists on his hips. "The masters interviewed every Waterbender he came came in contact with while he was in the city. We know everyone he talked to. We confirmed he smuggled nothing out of the city, and we seized all his possessions. No man in the Northern Water Tribe could be a Bloodbender?"

Katara's hands formed fists. "And what about the _women?_ "

The captain's eyes snapped up to finally look at her. "I- But-"

One of the other crew members shouted, "He has a daughter. She left to become a student in Ba Sing Se. That- that was a few days before he was confronted for his Bloodbending. And it's been long enough since then-"

Katara turned back to Ty Lee. "May I still have your help? I know it was just supposed to be the one, and I let him use Bloodbending on you-"

Ty Lee grabbed Katara in a hug. "I'm with you."

She didn't say she wasn't scared, because that wouldn't be true. But if Katara was thought they this, Ty Lee could be, too.

It was what she had always relied on.

* * *

"I'm don't know if we can do it," Katara gasped the next day, as Hakoda's ship carried them both to the Earth Kingdom's capital as quickly as possible.

It took Ty Lee a moment to understand the words. "Defeat the daughter? But-"

"No, not her. Well, not _just_ her."

Katara was sitting at the bow of the ship, her back turned to their path and her knees hugged to her chest. She was taking a rare rest from her Waterbending, and Ty Lee had come over with jerky and something to drink.

It had been a hard journey, and they'd only just begun.

Katara's aura had been streaked, since they left the Northern Seas, with the murky blues of the rivers or lakes found near factories. She'd been using her Waterbending to help speed the ship along, even when the wind filled their sails and had them racing. Hakoda had expressed his worry that she would tire herself out before whatever fight was waiting for her in Ba Sing Se.

Ty Lee assumed that Katara was simply worried that they wouldn't arrive in time, that there would be some kind of Bloodbender Cult waiting for them. Ba Sing Se University had opened its doors to students from all over the world, and Katara had explained that healers -- traditionally, a role Waterbender women were expected to settle for -- had been taking advantage of the opportunity.

But Katara's admission here didn't sound like that kind of worry.

Ty Lee sat down next to her with folded legs. "Tell me."

"I- well, yesterday. After the fight." Katara sighed. "I made a big show of being so sure that _he_ would never be able to pass on Bloodbending. That the Northern Water Tribe would keep him locked up and away from anyone who would want to learn a forbidden art. I've talked with the masters there about this. I know them all. My own master -- he's married to my grandmother, now -- he supported me and made his approval clear. The Chief even agreed with me. I got everything I needed for this from my Sister Tribe."

Ty Lee said, "Okay," and waited for the truth.

Katara leaned her head back so that it rested against the ship's rail. "But I don't know if that's enough. Maybe they'll be too nice to him and he'll use that to get away. Or a guard or someone will get curious and want to know more about Bloodbending, and soon there will be a whole group of them up there."

Ty Lee shrugged. "So we go back and get him and put him somewhere we know will be safe. Maybe somewhere in the Earth Kingdom?"

Katara groaned. "But do they know how to keep a Waterbender captive? It's _not_ easy. I once escaped by bending my sweat."

"What?" Ty Lee couldn't help but imagine it, and the visual had both icky and somewhat enticing elements to it. She couldn't help laughing. "And _you_ were scared of _me?_ "

Katara laughed with her, although it sounded halfhearted. "This was after Ba Sing Se fell. And before I learned Bloodbending. But do you see how hard it is? I'm not sure even the Kyoshi Warriors can manage it."

"Well, then maybe-" Ty Lee realized what she was about to say just in time. She'd learned some hard lessons, in her earliest days on Kyoshi Island, and sometimes her old perspectives were lurking just out of sight, ready to jump out into the most innocuous bits of conversation. She started to try to say something else, to cover her mistake, but-

"Maybe the Fire Nation can handle it?" Katara gave a rueful grin.

Ty Lee winced. "Sorry, I didn't think."

"It's okay. _I_ considered. Zuko would do me and the Water Tribe that favor, I'm sure." Katara shook her head. "But Fire Nation prisons for Waterbenders are what started this mess. The first Bloodbender developed the technique as a way of escaping. And how she described those prisons-" This time, it was Katara who winced. "I think dying would be better. I could kill a Bloodbender more easily than I could send one to a place like that."

Ty Lee nodded. She understood the need for freedom, and what denying it could do to people. In a way, all the people of the Fire Nation showed that kind of damage.

Katara continued, "I thought about asking Aang to do what he did to Ozai. You know, taking away Bending permanently? But- well, you remember what I said about how much I was scared of _you._ "

"Your bending is at the core of who you are," Ty Lee said. "And it's your link to your Tribe. Your nation."

"Yes." Katara let go of her legs and held her hands up in front of her, as if examining them. "These new Bloodbenders haven't hurt anyone. (Yet. That I know of.) Can I really have their Waterbending taken from them? Would that even really stop them from teaching Bloodbending?"

Ty Lee leaned against Katara. "I think I get it, now. You're worried you didn't do the right thing back there. But you're even more worried that there isn't a right thing to do."

" _Yes,_ " Katara breathed. She rested her head against Ty Lee's. "And I don't think I'm ever going to be sure about it."

"That's what I've really come to admire about you. You know, since we started on this quest," Ty Lee said.

Katara lifted her head and blinked owlishly at Ty Lee. "Admire what, exactly? And we're on a quest?"

"I admire how confident you are." Ty Lee smiled and motioned around them. "You're worried about what's behind you and in front of you, but you're still racing to the next part of your journey. And you're going to keep thinking about things and trying to make them better, even though you're worried you can't. Whatever doubts you have, it's never enough to stop you. It's never enough to keep you from doing what you think you have to do."

Katara's aura sparkled pink, and her cheeks took on a really cute blush. "Um, thanks. But that's nothing special, right?"

"You don't think so? I was worried about what Azula would do to me -- or what she would make me to do someone else -- so I tried to run from her. And when she found me and took me back (to hunt you, and I'm really sorry about that), I just let her control me because I didn't think I could do anything else. And I worked as hard as I could to convince myself that I wasn't afraid at all, that I _wanted_ to be her friend- or servant, or whatever." Ty Lee rubbed at a sudden itchiness in her eyes. "If I believed in myself like you can, my life would have been a lot different."

Katara stared at her for a long moment. Then she said, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Sokka keeps telling me that I'm reckless, not just sure of myself, and he thinks that if it wasn't for him, I'd have gotten myself killed a long time ago. So, you know, you survived and even saved Mai. That's a good thing. And we're even friends now. And according to Sokka, nothing is more terrifying that getting dragged along on one of my quests." She grinned -- a real one this time -- and nudged Ty Lee with her elbow.

Ty Lee, in turn, just barely managed to catch herself before she leaned over and kissed Katara.

Oh.

_This._

This would definitely complicate things.

Better to focus on what they had to do -- race to the Bloodbender, get into a deadly fight, and try to stop a corrupt martial art from spreading across the world -- and pretend, like the fear she had for Azula, that it wasn't real.

So Ty Lee smiled and said, "I guess I'm not so bad after all, when you put it like that. So we're both doing better than we thought."

"Yeah. I guess we'd have to be." Katara stood up. "Well, that's enough of a break. Time to get this ship _moving_ again." She turned around to face the horizon and took a Waterbending stance. Her movements were power and elegance and confidence, and they turned the seas into her playthings. The ship picked up speed, carried on its way by the very medium it had been designed to fight against.

And Ty Lee couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight, as much as she should probably look away and forget about the little flutter in her heart.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. Silver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the hunt, in many ways.

**The Hunt - Silver**

This wasn't like the last time Ty Lee had traveled to Ba Sing Se.

During the war -- when she had helped _win_ the war, or so they thought at the time -- she had been chasing the Avatar with Azula and Mai. It had been an odd journey, slow and meandering in parts, rushed and dangerous in others. After they'd lost his trail yet again, Azula had predicted that he would go to Ba Sing Se, the last bastion of Earth Kingdom resistance, and so they set up in wait with the Fire Army task force trying to break into the city.

Azula had been right, of course. But the Avatar had still eluded them, taking sanctuary in the 'impenetrable city,' forcing them to try to sneak in after him.

Ty Lee hadn't been able to imagine how life-changing those events would prove. Or, rather, she'd imagined the wrong things. She'd helped Azula win the war there- or so they thought. In truth, the Avatar won it months later when he defeated the Fire Lord. So that was all for nothing.

What wasn't nothing, though, was the team of warrior girls who Ty Lee helped defeat outside the city. It had been the uniforms of the Kyoshi Warriors that had let Ty Lee sneak into Ba Sing Se with Azula and Mai. How could she even think to guess that someday she'd be one of the Kyoshi Warriors herself, wearing that uniform legitimately with pride, humility, and a desire to make amends?

And then there had been that first fight with the Avatar and his friends, just outside the walls of the city. Ty Lee had fought the group twice before, in Omashu and then at the end of the chase with the tank-train, handily winning both times. It was at Ba Sing Se where those trends reversed, and the Avatar's friends found a way to win. The Avatar had defeated Azula in a duel.

And Ty Lee had been taken out of the fight by a lone Waterbender girl with the power to stop the flow of waterfalls (or slurry-falls, in this specific case) and keep a mere world-class hand-to-hand fighter from even getting close enough to try anything.

It had been dumbfounding.

* * *

Ty Lee's latest trip to Ba Sing Se took place entirely on oceans and rivers, as direct a path as they could manage, racing as fast as possible to reach the city before their quarry could leave. This time, she was working with that powerful Waterbender, and knew her to be a brave and vulnerable friend named Katara.

Ty Lee was still a bit dumbfounded, though. But falling for Katara while hunting Bloodbenders could do that to a person.

Hakoda's ship took waterways that, he explained, he had once guarded against Fire Nation incursion during the last year of the war. That brought them almost right up to the Outer Wall, and Katara and Ty Lee continued the journey together.

It was very different to Ty Lee's last visit. Even dressed as a Kyoshi Warrior, she, Azula, and Mai had been under suspicion until the Avatar had mistakenly vouched for them. This time, Katara simply announced her identity at one of the gates, and she was immediately taken to see a General who greeted her like visiting royalty. Katara explained why they were here and what they needed without hesitation.

Azula had always dismissed the Avatar's companions as backwards peasants. She hadn't denied their abilities, always careful in her strategies to counter them, but was insistent that they were unsophisticated and ultimately predictable, children in mind (if not body) who didn't understand the ways of the world.

Watching Katara stand with her chin held high as she ordered around one of the highest-ranking generals in the Earth Kingdom, without so much as a title or rank of her own, Ty Lee decided that Azula had never been as smart as everyone thought.

Seats were procured for them on the 'earth-rail' transport that would take them across the Agrarian Zone to the city proper. As the railcar got moving, Katara explained, "They've sent word ahead to the city and university of what we're doing. They'll be ready for us when we arrive, but I warned them not try to confront or even spy on our girl."

Ty Lee nodded. "Too dangerous. They can leave it to us."

Katara turned to stare out the windows behind them as the railcar passed over fields of corn and wheat and cabbages. "I only hope we can keep people away when we confront her. This isn't going to be like a fight in the woods on an island. We're going to be in the most crowded city in the world." Her aura was a war between passionate red and fearful blue, roiling at the same speed that the landscape sped by beneath the earth-rail.

"But," Ty Lee said, "the university is in the Middle Ring. It's not too crowded there, right?"

" _Any_ amount of crowd is too much. But we'll definitely have to keep the fight from moving down to the other rings." She nodded, and the red overcame the blue in her aura to shine the way forward.

Ty Lee averted her gaze before her blush could become too noticeable. Sometimes, she wished she didn't have her extra insight into emotional states; it could be as intimate and embarrassing as walking in on someone in the bath.

And she needed to be strong and steady for Katara. The Bloodbender's daughter could prove even more dangerous than he was, and Ty Lee had no intention of allowing Katara's fears to become a reality.

* * *

The Chancellor of Ba Sing Se University was waiting for them at the front gates of the campus with a smile, a platoon of city guards, and bad news: "None of the teaching staff has seen the student you inquired about for a little under a week."

To Ty Lee's eyes, Katara's whole aura turned the color of polluted seas, but to more mundane outward appearances, she didn't so much as blink as she said, "Then we need to find out where she's gone and what she might have done. You have her address like I asked?"

The Chancellor nodded. "I can take you there, myself. Apparently, she was renting a house at the edge of the Middle Ring with eight other women from her Tribe. They're all enrolled in various of our medical programs, and yes, at least a few have been in classes recently."

"I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news," Ty Lee said.

"It's news," Katara answered. "Let's get over there right away. I don't think we can evacuate the neighborhood without anyone noticing, so Ty Lee and I will have to approach the building as you start getting everyone else to safety." She made a sound like a laugh. "Sokka would probably argue for waiting and observing until we can come up with a plan, but we don't have time for that."

"We'll make it work." Ty Lee stretched her arms above her head. "Move reactively but land your strike first. That's the foundation of the most dangerous ways of fighting."

She had only passed briefly through the Middle Ring when she'd been in Ba Sing Se, and for obvious reasons, she'd never taken any subsequent opportunities to be a tourist. There was a quietness to the streets that reminded her of the Capital Caldera back in the Fire Nation, but the auras here didn't show as much fear. There was just as much repression, though.

The house where the Bloodbender's daughter had lived looked no different from those around it, a nice two-story yellow-trimmed building with a line of small bushes separating it from the street. But Ty Lee noticed that an open aqueduct -- made up to look like a decorative stream in the Ba Sing Se style -- crossed underneath the street just outside the front door. Wat-material for Waterbenders, if it came to that.

Katara pointed the guards to the other houses, and Ty Lee made shooing motions to the chancellor.

Then with just a look to acknowledge their readiness, they both dashed at the house.

Ty Lee threw herself into a cartwheel that transformed her momentum into something more flighty and useful. She sprang into a flying somersault that took her to the slanted awning right underneath one of the second-story windows. As she ran along the awning, checking in each of the windows for people, Katara leaped and pulled a wave of water out of the aqueduct.

It slammed into the front door and knocked it open.

Katara surfed through it a moment later.

With the second floor cleared, Ty Lee flipped over the awning and grabbed the edge. She swung underneath it and kicked her feet as she arced towards one of the shuttered first-story windows. She kicked it open and flew into what turned out to be a kind of common room. Papers covered in diagrams littered the place, and a few books were opened on the floor next to sitting pillows. A table in the center had the remains of what was once a platter of snack foods and drinks.

Katara stood next to that table in a Waterbending stance with an array of sharp icicles hovering in an arch above her head.

And just beyond her, huddled together and pressing their backs against the wall so hard that if they were Earthbenders they would have passed through it, were a trio of young Water Tribe women clutching each other for dear life.

Ty Lee relaxed. There were no enemies here.

* * *

"The others left a week ago," one of the women said after everyone calmed down, exchanged some basic information about what was going on, and then got the guards to stop evacuating the neighborhood.

Now, the guards and university officials were waiting outside the house, and Katara and Ty Lee were kneeling on 'study pillows' so they could get the full story of what had happened to the Bloodbender's daughter. Katara had insisted that anyone who looked even mildly intimidating should stay out of sight, apparently not realizing both that she'd been the one to terrorize the women in the first place _and_ that they all seemed to know of her and regard her with something like breathless awe.

It was enough to put a dopey grin on Ty Lee's face that she had to quickly suppress. No one needed to know about her thing for obliviously self-confident girls. That had only led to trouble, before.

Besides, there wasn't much to celebrate, considering that they had completely failed.

"All five," Katara groaned, "left together? They're all B- all trained in the forbidden Waterbending art?"

The three Water Tribe women sat up straight at the question, and the first dipped her head as if in apology for not offering all relevant information in a single sentence. "Um, perhaps, Master Katara. They- they spent time together without us. A week ago, they left in the night. Took their things and told us not to worry about them. We thought they might be taking a trip, but then the professors were asking us about them, and apparently they left some unpaid debts, and-" She stopped, and took a steadying breath. "They're all stronger Waterbenders than us, and they practiced some more advanced techniques together. It wasn't unusual for us to be left out."

The woman next to her blinked. "Could they have been learning this- this forbidden art?"

Katara sighed. "I hope not. If we're too late-" She trailed off, her aura growing muddier.

The three Water Tribe women shrank under her gaze, even though she wasn't even really looking at them.

Someone had to lighten the mood. So Ty Lee leaned forward on her pillow. "You all studied at the university? What subject?"

The women all turned to regard her, uncurling a little. "Medicine," the first managed. "We learned to heal as girls back home -- and of course our ways are ancient and proven by time -- but- but they have other methods in the rest of the world, and our Master Yugoda said that such ways might tap into the same wisdom at the root of our own. So if we learn how others do it, perhaps we can find new wisdom to bring back to our tribe."

"We work in the healing houses between classes to help pay for our education and rent," added the second. "So we also have a good chance to practice our skills on new kinds of ailments."

"And maybe some of the men down here are nicer than back home," the third spoke for the first time in a low voice.

Katara laughed, startling them. After a moment, they relaxed and even ventured smiles as she said, "Very wise. I'm grateful for the time I spent learning with your tribe, but it's a very big world, and I think you're brave and wise to want to see more of it."

The auras of the women began glowing pink.

Then Katara added, "But it's a big world, and I need to know where to find the others. Did they say anything that might be a clue?"

The Water Tribe women all consulted, but the consensus was that the five fugitives hadn't been particularly talkative about their secret plans.

"Do you think," Ty Lee put in, "that we could look around in the rooms of the others? Maybe they left some clue about where they went?"

Privacy was apparently a big deal in the Northern Water Tribe, but when 'Master Katara' added her approval of the idea, doors began opening- literally.

And it was under a futon, in one of the bedrooms, where they found a stack of printed, illustrated pamphlets describing how Waterbenders could, under the right circumstances, take control of the blood in human bodies.

* * *

The rest of the day was very busy, but not for Ty Lee. She was a warrior without an enemy to fight, a partner with nothing to contribute.

That hadn't stopped Katara. She'd been a storm of activity, questioning the Water Tribe women for any possible clue as to the direction the others went in. She'd sent the university officials back to question the student body in a similar way. She had the guards start an investigation encompassing every possible place where the Bloodbenders might have shown their passports in the city and been recorded in the logs. And then, when that was all done, she did it again but more agitated.

And when no more information produced itself, Ty Lee got to see Katara simply lose all energy and listlessly admit, "I guess there's nothing else we can do for now. Come on, let's find someplace to rest and get some food."

They still hadn't left the house of the Water Tribe women. Katara and Ty Lee bowed to them, and Katara said, "Thank you for your help. Sorry for disrupting your studies."

Ty Lee added, "It was nice to meet you, even if the circumstances weren't the best. And kind of violent."

"Yes." Katara offered them the best smile she could, under the circumstances. Her aura's sparkle was almost completely gone, washed away by the darkness of her disappointment. "I see the future of the Northern Water Tribe in you, and it's a bright one."

Ty Lee would have expected the women to perk up at that, but their auras remained dimmed with fear- except for the bright swatches of yellow that were a different kind of anxiety. These women were receiving praise from one of their heroes but were worried about losing control and respect.

Katara said, "If there's anything you find out about the others, let the city guards know." She turned to leave.

Ty Lee trotted after her. Or, at least, she started that way. She slowed her steps as they crossed the room and stopped altogether when Katara passed out of the house. Then Ty Lee turned back to the women and put on her most innocent expression. "Is there something wrong?"

The three women just stared at her.

"I mean, I know that this whole thing with your roommates being fugitives and us breaking into your house is really stressful. You don't have worry, I'm not _that_ dumb!" Ty Lee offered a smile but not a laugh, because this wasn't really funny but it just a touch of humor would help relax everyone. "But is there anything else? We haven't gotten you in trouble or anything- right?"

The women all shook their heads, perfectly innocent denial that Ty Lee knew all too well. She and Mai had a lot of experience with it from when people would ask if they knew how lucky they were to be a companion to Princess Azula.

So Ty Lee clasped her hands together and whispered, "It's okay. I can tell you're upset about something. If you'd like to talk about it, I'd be happy to listen. But if you don't, that's fine. We've really disrupted your lives, I know."

The women shared glances. They leaned together and had their own whispered conversation. Ty Lee heard snippets like, "really tell," and, "help someone like us," and, "did break into our house, after all."

Finally, they turned back to Ty Lee.

* * *

"What?" Katara barked, a few minutes and a short walk later. "Why didn't they say anything to me?"

Ty Lee shrugged. "I really couldn't say." Which didn't mean she didn't know. She'd gotten permission from all three Water Tribe women for this course of action, but not to talk about their shame. There was a difference.

So before they got dinner and a place to rest, Katara found the university's chancellor again and _explained_ several things to him. Like that the three women were the bright future of the Northern Water Tribe. And that he had a responsibility to such important students. And if they, for example, had trouble paying their rent for a while because their roommates had run off to become criminal Bloodbenders, then _arrangements_ should be made until they could find replacement roommates and pay off their debts. And he should be the one to handle it.

It wasn't charity, which Ty Lee had stressed when she explained the plan to the women. It was just the right thing to do.

After Katara was satisfied with the chancellor's assurances, she left with Ty Lee and said, "Thank you for letting me know about that. I guess I was so focused on the Bloodbenders, I forgot about the people they've already hurt."

"Well, you brought me along to help you fight, right?" Ty Lee shrugged as they walked the streets of Ba Sing Se beneath the sunset sky. "If I can't punch any Bloodbenders for you, I can at least keep an eye on the things you're too busy to worry about."

Katara's beautiful red aura took on some pink that once again sent Ty Lee's heart fluttering. "Thank you. You know, your punching is really good, but it's only one of the things that makes you great."

"Oh?" Ty Lee's own aura went so pink that she felt like she fly, not that birds needed to be pink to fly, but their auras certainly did. "Well then I guess I'll let you buy me dinner after all."

Katara's laughter rang through the dusk.

* * *

It was the last time, to Ty Lee's disappointment, that Katara laugh would for a while.

The search for the Bloodbenders didn't turn anything up for two whole days. And then it was simply word that they had bought tickets for the fairy at Full Moon Bay and crossed over into the southern half of the Earth Kingdom continent.

"Let's go," Katara had said as soon as she'd heard from their little working base in a Middle Ring inn. "We just need to find a small boat, and I can get us across the bay faster than the ferry. We'll send word to my dad at the waystation, let me know where we're going."

"Where _are_ we going?" Ty Lee didn't have much to pack, so she was ready to run as soon as she was given the word. "It might not look it from a sky bison, but the southern Earth Kingdom is really big."

"I don't travel much on a sky bison these days." She paused. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. We have to try. We'll get a pair of ostrich-horses, and if we hurry- and we can find clues or word about them- maybe we can catch up."

Ty Lee wasn't so sure of that, but her only experience with hunting people had been during Azula's big mission to track down Zuko and/or the Avatar. Sure, they'd spent a lot of time in the area around Ba Sing Se and seen that it was full of things like hidden paths, networks of valleys, and mountainous terrain that made moving in a straight line impossible. And the towns were few and far between. But maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought?

* * *

It was worse.

Not because the paths were more hidden, or the valleys more winding, or even the terrain more mountainous. That was all exactly like Ty Lee remembered. Not even because the days were humid and the sky an inspiring gray.

During those sunny times of hunting for Zuko or the Avatar (whoever they could find first) Azula had been in charge. And despite the lack of results, Azula hadn't gotten discouraged. She'd known that they had a tremendous amount of ground to cover, and was dedicated to searching it all until a better opportunity or a new direction presented itself. The whole point had been to keep up the pressure on Zuko and/or the Avatar until they made a mistake or fled their sanctuaries (which turned out to be just one sanctuary for both of them, Ba Sing Se, but Azula had always been lucky up until she forced everyone else to be something better than lucky).

Katara, on the other hand, was at a disadvantage. She was chasing without a clear direction.

And, judging by how the muddiness in her aura increased every day, she knew it.

They spent as much time on the move as they could, just picking a likely direction for travelers and covering distance as fast as their borrowed ostrich-horses could go, but in the dark of the night they had to stop because even the moon couldn't light all paths. Then they'd make camp and share some of the military rations the Ba Sing Se guards have given them at the Outer Wall.

That was when they'd get a chance to talk.

One night, Ty Lee said, "What if we don't catch them?"

Katara was silent for a while as she stared into the campfire. "They're heading for the former colonies. I know it. That's the only other place they can find more Waterbenders without going back to the North Pole or down to _my_ territory. Then they'll do everything they can to spread the word about Bloodbending. Those pamphlets we found were just what they had to leave behind. They'll talk about it with everyone they can find. And they'll try to take students."

"So they'll make an army?"

Katara sighed. "No. Bloodbending isn't that easy. It takes a skilled, precise Waterbender to do it. And it can only be practiced under a full moon. So I doubt there will ever be a Bloodbending army." She leaned back and stared up at the sky. "But there will be more Bloodbenders. And they'll hurt people." Softly, she added, "Unless I can stop them."

Ty Lee wanted to find a way to ease the burden on her, but felt that this time she couldn't. Instead, she said, "Before, I- I was kind of asking about us. What do _we_ do if we can't catch them?"

Katara turned to lock those blue eyes on her. "Do you want to go home?"

"To Kyoshi Island?" Ty Lee shrugged. "I'm a Kyoshi Warrior now, and I'll have to report back to Suki eventually. But I'm not in a hurry. Whether I'm helping you or guarding Zuko or protecting Kyoshi Island, I'm not just living for myself anymore."

Katara blinked. "Is that why you joined them? The Kyoshi Warriors?"

"Yeah. After what Mai did for Zuko -- defying Azula like that, living for someone else no matter what it cost her -- I realized how selfish I was being. Either I was running away to just be happy in the circus or convincing myself I liked serving Azula so that I wouldn't risk her hurting me." Ty Lee forced a giggle out. "And then the Kyoshi Warriors showed me how I could be happy by helping other people be happy. And _that's_ the best possible way to live. Right?"

Katara stared at her.

Ty Lee started to wonder if she's said something wrong.

Then Katara gave a little shrug of one shoulder and said, "Well, in the circus, your performances were making other people happy. And even with Azula-" Her face twisted for a moment. "Well, at least you were there for Mai. So I don't think you were ever completely selfish." She hesitated, and then took on a sly look. "Even if you _were_ a villain."

Ty Lee faked a gasp, her aura pinking up at a sign of playfulness from Katara. "A villain! I'm sweet and helpful and I'm the prettiest girl _you've_ ever seen! I can't be a villain. I was just confused about who the villains and heroes in charge were and which were which." She held herself up pridefully for a moment, and then added, "Even if I did enjoy beating up the Kyoshi Warriors a little too much."

Katara cackled.

Ty Lee suppressed her own laughter. "They were _really_ pretty! Of course I felt threatened! Have you ever stared into a Kyoshi Warrior's eyes while she's wearing her makeup? It's just, like- _wow!_ You know? Of course I punched them!"

Katara covered her mouth as she finished laughing. "The makeup is striking, yeah. And I've never met a Kyoshi Warrior who isn't pretty. But the only Kyoshi Warrior I've ever wanted to punch is you, and that was before you joined up, anyway."

Ty Lee leaned forward. "Well, maybe you haven't looked deep enough into my eyes, yet. When I have my makeup again, I want you to take a deep-" She found her voicing taking a low tone. " _-long-_ " She batted her eyes. "-look."

Katara's mouth was hanging open. "I- I wouldn't mind that."

"Oh. Good." Ty Lee suddenly realized they might not be joking anymore. She wasn't sure what she should say. Usually, only men responded to this kind of thing. And -- for several reasons -- this wasn't just a little playing around.

Katara smiled. "We should get some rest. We need to make as much progress as we can tomorrow."

* * *

But the next morning had hardly dawned when the gray clouds that had been hounding the horizon grew dark and flowed in to cover the sky. Ty Lee and Katara had just gotten back on the road when the downpours started.

Soon enough, they had to get _off_ the road. The wind and rain only grew stronger, and the day became as dark as night.

Hunkering down against a storm wasn't usually much fun, but this time Ty Lee got to see Katara push the rain itself away, and then they took shelter with their ostrich-horses in a little palace of ice. The fun of having a little fort to share with a good friend was muted by having to also share with a pair of funny-smelling giant birds.

That was something new. Never mind the good company.

But when the storm ended, they had lost another day.

* * *

The journey came to an end not with a battle against Bloodbenders, but with a village half-buried in a mudslide.

Ty Lee and Katara came upon it the day after the storm. Katara's aura had darkened again, but when they crested a hill and saw the tragedy sprawling below them, it once more flared with a deep lustful red. It was such an odd reaction that Ty Lee nearly fell off her ostrich-horse.

But then Katara turned around and said, "We have to help them!"

"The townspeople?" Ty Lee squinted against the glare of the refreshed sun. She could see people moving around within the ruined village, with clusters of people near half-buried houses- and, probably, fully buried houses.

A Waterbender would probably be a big help down there.

Even one more person could find a way to help, surely.

But she and Katara weren't on a leisure trip.

Ty Lee took a deep breath. "I can stay and help, if you want to keep going. Or- or I can trying to find the Bloodbenders, and you can stay here, and- and-"

Katara leaned over in her saddle and laid a hand on one of Ty Lee's shoulders. "We're in this together. I want you with me." She glanced down at the town. "Besides, we've lost the Bloodbenders. I'm not going to stop protecting people from Bloodbending, but there's nothing more we can do for now. Not with that."

Her aura remained gleaming red as she spoke, revealing a complete lack of doubt in the path she'd just chosen.

"Okay," Ty Lee said, "let's go see how we can help."

Katara's aura sparkled pink.

* * *

The work was long and hard, but a Waterbender was indeed a big help, even if she wasn't as good at moving mud as some of the Earthbenders in the village. But Katara figured out how to remove the water from the mud, which made the Earthbenders a lot more effective.

And when people were hurt, it was the Waterbender -- a very good healer, it turned out -- who took the lead.

The first day was spent saving lives. That night was devoted making sure there was enough food for everyone. The next day was full of work rebuilding homes. The second night was finally a time when most people could rest, but there was still work to be done, and the Earthbenders couldn't shore up the land against future mudslides by themselves.

It was the third evening when Ty Lee finally got a chance to just sit beside Katara and bask in in her presence. Their clothes were stained with mud and dirt and dirty mud, and their hair was tangled and full of sweat, and they were both exhausted.

But their auras were both pink, and while the future had plenty more work for them to do, they both had no fear of it.

Perhaps that's why Ty Lee leaned over and planted a kiss on Katara's lips.

It was done without thought, and she froze in the aftermath as Katara blinked and stared at her with mouth agape.

Had she just made a mista-

Katara kissed her back.

When they separated, Katara brushed her hair loops away from her eyes with a smile. "Can I ask why?"

Ty Lee touched her own lips, heart and stomach and mind all aflutter. "I- I want to- to believe in what I want. Like you. And- I kind of want _you?_ "

Katara's eyebrows rose. "So, you believe in me? After all this?"

Ty Lee shrugged. "How could I not?"

Katara gave a laugh, but she didn't object.

So Ty Lee added, "It's the fact that you try -- that you want to make things happen, and believe in them even when other people have given up -- that makes you strong."

Anyone else might have tried to be modest in the face of such praise.

Katara, though, she moved closer so that Ty Lee could feel her breath against her face. "You're pretty strong, too. Because people like me can't be strong without leaning on people like you."

Now Ty Lee's took a moment to look at her own aura, and found that it had gone so bright, it was shining like silver, a spiritual light from beyond material concerns. She closed her eyes against it so that kiss Katara again.

Katara kissed her back with all the strength she had in her-

Someone called for the Waterbender to help with a broken arm. So they smiled at each other, took each other's hand, and went off to handle the next thing.

**END**


End file.
